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Oregon high court hears case against Big Tobacco 

Oregon's highest court heard arguments Wednesday in a class-action lawsuit that seeks to force tobacco companies to pay for medical tests to detect lung cancer, emphysema and other smoking-related diseases.

Two lower courts have rejected the arguments of Patricia Lowe of Beaverton, who quit smoking after 40 years and filed the original suit in 2001. Lowe is now in her mid-60s.

But six justices of the Oregon Supreme Court heard Lowe's lawyer argue that the tobacco companies should pay for medical screenings, particularly spiral CT scans, a three-dimensional form of computerized X-rays that can detect lung tumors at their earliest and most treatable stage.

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